Nissan Motor Company Limited

Oki Data Corporation

Hiroyuki Kanno

Minoru Nomaru

Hiroyuki Ono

Kazuhiko Yazaki

Hiroshi Sasaoka

Yoshitada Sekine

Tohru Nishiyama

Kaoru Okuyama

Toru Nishiyama

An image formation apparatus includes: a feeder that feeds a label sheet, having a long base sheet and labels detachably adhered to the base sheet at a predetermined interval in a longitudinal direction thereof, to a conveyance path; a conveyance member that conveys the fed label sheet along the conveyance path; a detector that is placed along the conveyance path and that detects a position of at least one of the labels on the label sheet being conveyed; an image formation unit that is placed downstream of the detector in a conveyance direction and that forms an image on the label detected by the detector; and a controller that controls the conveyance member, the detector, and the image formation unit. The controller switches the detector between a constant light emission operation of emitting the detection light constantly and an intermittent light emission operation of emitting the detection light intermittently.

Image formation apparatus and image formation method

An image forming apparatus, provided with an image forming part that performs an image formation on each of individual medium pieces that are attached to a long base sheet with specified gaps wherein a long medium is configured with the long base sheet and the medium pieces, a length of the gaps being defined as a gap length, a carrying part that carries the long medium to the image forming part in a medium carrying direction, a cutting part that cuts the long medium that is being carried by the carrying part, and a cut position determining part that determines a cut position where the long medium is cut by the cutting part, the cut position being located at one of the gaps, wherein the cut position determining part changes the cut position according to the gap length.

Image forming apparatus capable of changing cut position on long medium and control method thereof

An IC (Integrated Circuit) tag communication apparatus is capable of transporting a medium with an IC tag along a transportation path and communicating with the IC tag. The IC tag communication apparatus includes an antenna portion for communicating with the IC tag. Further, the transportation path includes a low dielectric region arranged to face the antenna portion.

IC tag communication apparatus

A control for robots wherein a plurality of control units are connected in a hierarchical structure including a plurality of ranks including the lowest rank, and the robots subordinate to the control units belonging to the lowest rank.

Control for a group of robots

A method and apparatus controlling a production line including at least one work station operable in one of a normal production posture and at least one extraordinary production posture for producing products and a checking station located downstream of the work station for making a quality check to provide a quality audit result for each of the products transferred in succession from the work station. Trouble data are provided in succession for respective troubles which have occurred in the work station. The trouble data are accumulated to provide trouble history data specifying each of the troubles in relation to a nature of the corresponding trouble, a cause of the corresponding trouble, and a stoppage time required to restore the work station so as to remove the corresponding trouble. A failure signal is produced when the work station ceases to function due to a trouble. The failure signal indicates detected nature and cause of the trouble. A stoppage time is estimated from the trouble history data based on the detected trouble nature and cause when the failure signal occurs. A first command is produced to restore the work station when the estimated stoppage time is less than a predetermined time. Alternatively, a second command is produced to place the work station into the extraordinary production posture when the estimated stoppage time exceeds a predetermined value.

Method and apparatus for production line fault management

A method and apparatus for controlling an automotive vehicle body assembling line including a floor main assembling unit for positioning a plurality of floor main components and jointing the positioned floor main components to assemble a floor main, a body side assembling unit for positioning a plurality of body side components and jointing the positioned body side components to assemble a body side, and a vehicle body assembling unit for positioning the body side and the floor main and jointing the positioned body side and the positioned floor main to assemble a vehicle body. The pushing forces applied to respective positioning points set on the body side are measured when the vehicle body assembling unit positions the body side with respect to the floor main. A pattern of distribution of the measured pushing forces is compared with a pattern of distribution of predetermined pushing forces required to push the respective positioning points of the body side when each of the floor main components is placed at a position deviated from a predetermined position to estimate at least one floor main component which is positioned incorrectly in the floor main assembling unit. Position errors are estimated from respective standard equations based on the pushing forces measured for the estimated floor main component. Each of the standard equations defines a predetermined relationship between a pushing force and a corresponding position error. The floor main assembling unit is controlled to eliminate the estimated position errors.

Method and apparatus for car body assembling line control

A flexible manufacturing system for assembling various types of vehicle bodies is disclosed. The system includes a work supply means by which corresponding works for the various types of vehicle bodies are supplied, a main body assembling device which includes a plurality of locating and welding robots of numerical control type and control means for controlling operation of the robots in a programmed manner so that the various types of vehicle bodies are continuously assembled in order. A method for controlling the system comprises (a) sensing a trouble which would occur in any of the robots, (b) stopping the robot in trouble, and (c) controlling operation of the other robots in such a manner that at least one of the types of vehicle bodies is assembled by the remaining robots.

Method and apparatus for assembling vehicle body

A method of and an apparatus for assembling a vehicle body is disclosed, which uses a laser welding equipment to join panels of a vehicle body main part. The panels are located and held by a gauge portion of a workpiece supporting jig and are welded at a held portion by means of a laser beam conducted through the workpiece supporting jig.

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Tokyo, Japan

Hiroyuki Kanno